\u00a0Cotto, with a ferocious left hook and punishing combinations, knocked Martinez down three times in the first round, and continued to dominate the scheduled 12-round bout at Madison Square Garden. Martinez’s corner waved an end to the fight as the bell rang for round 10.<\/div>\n
The Argentine, who wore supportive sleeves on both his knees, was cut near his right eye and over his left eye and his knees buckled several times during the one-sided contest.<\/p>\n
Cotto, 33, became the first Puerto Rican ever to win titles in four different weight divisions after previously holding the junior welterweight, welterweight and super welterweight crowns.<\/p>\n
“This is the biggest achievement I ever had in my career,” said Cotto, who improved to 39-4 while the 39-year-old Martinez fell to 51-3-2.<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n
“I got hit and I never recovered after that. I tried my best,” said Martinez, speaking through a translator. “He caught me cold, he caught me hard at the beginning and I didn’t recover from it.”<\/p>\n
Martinez looked set to continue, despite buckling after another powerful left in the ninth round that the referee ruled a knockdown even though the Argentine did not touch the canvas. But his corner surrendered.<\/p>\n
“More than a boxer, he’s my brother and he’s my friend,” said trainer Pablo Sarmiento.<\/p>\n
Freddie Roach, Cotto’s trainer, said the winner executed the game plan to perfection.<\/p>\n
“I’m really proud of him,” Roach said. “We had a great game plan and he followed it to a tee.”<\/p>\n
Roach said Cotto manoeuvered Martinez masterfully. “He had him moving into the hook all night long,” Roach said. “Miguel is a better boxer than Martinez.”<\/p>\n
Cotto landed twice as many punches in the bout and also proved to be the bigger puncher even though he was fighting at the 160-pound limit for the first time in his career.<\/p>\n
Martinez, 39, has had physical ills to contend with, showing the effects of shoulder and knee operations in holding off Briton Martin Murray in a battle last April in Buenos Aires despite being knocked down in the eighth.<\/p>\n
The loser did not attend the post-fight news conference.<\/p>\n
“Sergio said he had no excuses,” Lou DiBella, the fighter’s promoter, told reporters. “After that first round, he felt dizzy throughout the fight but he wanted to continue.<\/p>\n
“But obviously he was taking a terrible beating.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Source: Eurosport<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Miguel Cotto dominated Sergio Martinez at Madison Square Garden to take the WBC middleweight title and become Puerto Rico\u2019s first four-weight world champion. Miguel Cotto used a furious start to win the World Boxing Council middleweight championship as title holder\u00a0Sergio Martinez\u00a0of Argentina surrendered the crown when he did not answer the bell for the 10th […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":23447,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[3,31],"yoast_head":"\n
Boxing - Cotto dominates Martinez at the Garden - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/06\/boxing-cotto-dominates-martinez-at-the-garden\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Boxing - Cotto dominates Martinez at the Garden - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Miguel Cotto dominated Sergio Martinez at Madison Square Garden to take the WBC middleweight title and become Puerto Rico\u2019s first four-weight world champion. Miguel Cotto used a furious start to win the World Boxing Council middleweight championship as title holder\u00a0Sergio Martinez\u00a0of Argentina surrendered the crown when he did not answer the bell for the 10th […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/06\/boxing-cotto-dominates-martinez-at-the-garden\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/citi97.3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-06-08T17:43:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-06-08T17:44:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Miguel-Cotto.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"540\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kojo Akoto Boateng\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@citi973\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@citi973\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kojo Akoto Boateng\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/06\/boxing-cotto-dominates-martinez-at-the-garden\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/06\/boxing-cotto-dominates-martinez-at-the-garden\/\",\"name\":\"Boxing - Cotto dominates Martinez at the Garden - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-06-08T17:43:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-06-08T17:44:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1642ef473fe39bf0c4e2f2f252678eb1\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/06\/boxing-cotto-dominates-martinez-at-the-garden\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/06\/boxing-cotto-dominates-martinez-at-the-garden\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/06\/boxing-cotto-dominates-martinez-at-the-garden\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Boxing – Cotto dominates Martinez at the Garden\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/\",\"name\":\"Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always\",\"description\":\"Ghana News | Ghana Politics | Ghana Soccer | Ghana Showbiz\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1642ef473fe39bf0c4e2f2f252678eb1\",\"name\":\"Kojo Akoto Boateng\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba51f5385119e83762c67ecd6aa410ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba51f5385119e83762c67ecd6aa410ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kojo Akoto Boateng\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/author\/kojo\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Boxing - Cotto dominates Martinez at the Garden - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/06\/boxing-cotto-dominates-martinez-at-the-garden\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Boxing - Cotto dominates Martinez at the Garden - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always","og_description":"Miguel Cotto dominated Sergio Martinez at Madison Square Garden to take the WBC middleweight title and become Puerto Rico\u2019s first four-weight world champion. Miguel Cotto used a furious start to win the World Boxing Council middleweight championship as title holder\u00a0Sergio Martinez\u00a0of Argentina surrendered the crown when he did not answer the bell for the 10th […]","og_url":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/06\/boxing-cotto-dominates-martinez-at-the-garden\/","og_site_name":"Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/citi97.3","article_published_time":"2014-06-08T17:43:13+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-06-08T17:44:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":960,"height":540,"url":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Miguel-Cotto.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kojo Akoto Boateng","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@citi973","twitter_site":"@citi973","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kojo Akoto Boateng","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/06\/boxing-cotto-dominates-martinez-at-the-garden\/","url":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/06\/boxing-cotto-dominates-martinez-at-the-garden\/","name":"Boxing - Cotto dominates Martinez at the Garden - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-06-08T17:43:13+00:00","dateModified":"2014-06-08T17:44:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1642ef473fe39bf0c4e2f2f252678eb1"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/06\/boxing-cotto-dominates-martinez-at-the-garden\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/06\/boxing-cotto-dominates-martinez-at-the-garden\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/06\/boxing-cotto-dominates-martinez-at-the-garden\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Boxing – Cotto dominates Martinez at the Garden"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/","name":"Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always","description":"Ghana News | Ghana Politics | Ghana Soccer | Ghana Showbiz","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1642ef473fe39bf0c4e2f2f252678eb1","name":"Kojo Akoto Boateng","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba51f5385119e83762c67ecd6aa410ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba51f5385119e83762c67ecd6aa410ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kojo Akoto Boateng"},"url":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/author\/kojo\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23446"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}